Surely you have also heard a saying like "Eating meat is my personal choice - you have to respect that" heard, right? That's so easy to say and leaves many vegans hopelessly silenced. But is it really a personal choice if I consume animal-based foods such as meat, cheese, cow's milk and eggs?
I would now like to question what a personal decision actually is - and whether the argument really makes sense. Let's go!
Is eating meat a personal choice?
A personal decision is a decision that affects only ourselves. For example, when we choose whether to wear the red or the blue sweater in the morning. No other living being is affected by this decision.
But would we still call it a personal decision if someone decided to eat our beloved dog? That may sound a little abstract - but it would upset pretty much all of us. And that is precisely what Double standard. For those who like meat demonstrate that it is okay to kill and eat a pig. But if we do the same to a dog, it's wrong.
It is therefore incredibly important to be aware of one thing: when we eat animal body parts, there is definitely always sacrifice involved. Whether they come from the organic farm or from the Factory farming originate. So it is no longer a decision that only affects us - and therefore it is not a personal decision either. Especially in light of the fact that we no longer need to eat animals in order to survive. All the nutrients we humans need to live can be found in plants in a higher quality form.₁
In addition, animals have to be fed in order to grow meat. If we were to eat the food crops ourselves instead, not a single person would have to go hungry.₂ As climate-protecting measures are required for fodder cultivation and grazing Rainforests cut down veganism also has a positive effect on the global warming This is a problem that affects everyone in the world, including you and especially your children.
Eating animals requires sacrifices - and is therefore not a personal decision
So the decision to eat meat is not a personal one. But in the end, of course, everyone decides for themselves whether they want to continue consuming animal products or not. Everyone should respect this decision. Because no one should force something on someone else that they don't want.
But "Live and let live" is definitely an absurd justification for your own meat consumption, as you are also deciding that your own taste experience is more important to you than the lives of other people and billions of animals. If you want people to respect your decision to eat meat, you should also consider, for example, that vegans respect the lives of around 74 billion farm animals killed every year.₃
Is eating meat a personal choice for you? How do you feel about it? Just write me a comment with your opinion.
Stay sustainable,
PS: In addition to the argument of personal choice, it is often said that Veganism only a trend be. In the linked article you can find out whether there is any truth to this.
References:
₁ University of Oxford: Plant-based foods are good for both health and the environment (as of 29.10.2020), available at https://t1p.de/ms6w. [15.07.2020].
₂ M. Berners-Lee, C. Kennelly, R. Watson; et al. (2018): Current global food production is sufficient to meet human nutritional needs in 2050 provided there is radical societal adaptation, available at https://www.elementascience.org/articles/10.1525/elementa.310. [07.05.2020].
₃ Things explained - In a nutshell: Meat - The most delicious evil in the world, YouTube, 24.01.2019, Web, 07.05.2020 at 10:50 a.m., in: http://y2u.be/y6f3dwxexZM.
